1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chat management system which provides a video chat service.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram illustrating a conventional chat management system, which is shown in JP-A No. 5-233103. In the figure, reference numerals 1, 2 are videophones used for having a video chat with the videophones 2, 1 via a video chat service center 3; reference numeral 3 is the video chat service center that provides video chat service; reference numeral 4 is a video chat device that enables a video chat between videophones 1, 2; reference numeral 5 is a video chat control unit that manages a schedule of the video chat device 4 to control execution of the video chat device 4; reference numeral 6 is a schedule processing unit by which, when an operator of the video chat service center 3 inputs schedule information, the schedule information is stored in a schedule DB or database 7; reference numeral 7 is the schedule DB that stores schedule information; and reference numeral 8 is an execution processing unit for controlling execution of the video chat device 4 according to the schedule information stored in the schedule DB 7.
Next, the operation will be described.
In response to a request from a user of the videophones 1, 2, when an operator of the video chat service center 3 inputs schedule information in which a utilization time of video chat, and the like, are shown, the schedule processing unit 6 of the video chat control unit 5 stores the schedule information in the schedule DB 7.
The execution processing unit 8 of the video chat control unit 5 retrieves the schedule information stored in the schedule DB 7, and then controls the execution of the video chat device 4 according to the schedule information. More specifically, when the utilization time of video chat comes, the execution processing unit 8 starts the execution of the video chat device 4.
As a result, the video chat device 4 originates a call to the videophones 1, 2, or accepts an incoming call from the videophones 1, 2. When a connection to the videophones 1, 2 is made, the video chat device 4 synthesizes voice and video image, which are transmitted from the videophones 1, 2, and then transmits the synthesized voice and the synthesized video image to the videophones 1, 2.
The conventional chat management system is devised as described above. Thus, the conventional chat management system does not have an interface by which a user of the videophones 1, 2 directly operates so that reservations for a video chat are accepted. This produces a problem such that utilization ratio of the video chat device 4 cannot be increased.